


Long Way From Home

by Sorentia



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate SG-1
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-08-26
Packaged: 2018-07-26 15:07:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7578838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorentia/pseuds/Sorentia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy lays dying after stopping a Polgara demon on the loose in Sunnydale.  Before the darkness can take her, she is offered a chance at survival by the man she had been trying to rescue.  What does his kiss hold in store for the Slayer and how will her new partner change her destiny forever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Stargate: SG-1. If I did, I'd be much wealthier than I am. I neither ask for nor gain any profit from these stories and thank the creators of the respective worlds for giving something wondrous to us that stand against time.

    She had begun tracking it a little over four hours ago when Giles alerted her to the demons presence in Sunnydale.  So far it had racked up a total of five kills, which if her Watcher's information was correct – and she had no reason to believe otherwise – that meant it had been in her town for about ten hours so far.  Ten hours and five people that would never go home to their families were too many in Buffy's opinion.  That two of those dead had been found by her after she had started her hunt had only increased her anger.  There had not even been bodies to speak of, but only bits and pieces and what was left was gnawed and chewed as if used as a toothpick by the creature.  
  
    Buffy spun away from it's skewering natural weapons, long spines that were clearly as sharp as the sword she herself carried.  Her body was already littered with scores of lacerations where she had been just fast enough to avoid being skewered but not fast enough to avoid all injury from the deadly spines.  She pushed out with her sword brushing one of the demon's – Polgara demon, her mind absently reminded her of the name Giles had given for this species – arms wide and stepped inside its reach.  She kicked out at one knee, trying to force it backward against its natural range of motion, only to have little effect.  The monstrous alpha predator that even other demons avoided was strong.  Stronger that she had been expecting.  
  
    Buffy found herself being introduced to that strength as it backhanded her, forcing her away from it so it could bring its spines back into play and lifting her into the air and off her feet.  Slamming into the concrete walls of the old building she had tracked it to forced her breath from her lungs, leaving her momentarily stunned.  Buffy had been hit hard by vampires, even harder by some of the demons she had fought since coming to Sunnydale last year, and even harder by the nightmare version of Billy's little league coach during the day everyone's nightmares had come to life while the young boy had been in a coma.  The strength behind the Polgara demons blow was even more frightening.  Buffy was certain she had felt at least one rib crack as she had been sent flying.  
  
    Forcing the daze that threatened to engulf her away she rolled to the side as the demon slammed one foot down where she had lain.  Rolling to her feet she lunged with her sword managing to pierce it's hide by several inches before it spun on her, ripping the blade out of her hand.  As the demon retaliated by trying yet again to skewer her she dropped to the ground and rolled backward away from it, trying to lure it further away from the man it had been about to kill for its next meal.  He was still alive, though Buffy was unsure how much longer that would hold true if she couldn't finish the demon quickly and get him to a hospital.  Blood covered the floor around him as well as his body, like a red splash of paint against the gray concrete walls.  
  
    'Damn it, Giles.  Where the hell are you and the others?'  She had called them before heading into the building and gave them the address.  She had no illusions about them being able to assist her in the fight against the massive demon, but she had heard the screams of its intended prey before entering.  She had hoped that they could get here quick enough to rescue him as she fought with the Polgara.  So far they had not arrived, which worried her.  
  
    Then the moment she had waited for came.  Seeing her opening as one of her kicks knocked the larger demon off balance she struck, lashing out with strike after strike, driving it back towards a wall.  With an effort born of desperation to save the innocent trapped by the chaos their fight was causing, she leapt into the air, slamming both feet into the demon's chest and forcing it into the wall at speed and causing her sword to slam home through the demons back and out its chest.  Blood bubbled up out of the green reptilian creature's mouth as it staggered forward and took first one, then two swings at Buffy that she easily dodged before it fell face first onto the floor.  
  
    Breathing a sigh of relief she stepped over the demon and drew her sword from its body, hurrying over to the man slouched in the corner.  
  
    “Come on, don't be dead, don't be dead,” she muttered as she crouched over the man.  
  
    She pressed two fingers to his neck, searching blindly for the pulse she knew should be there but unsure where to find it.  After a moment she found it, thin and reedy, but there and slowly fading.  She wasn't sure if even getting him to a hospital was an option at this point until his eyes slowly flickered open.  
  
    The man looked at Buffy, confusion clear on his face.  She gently brushed his bark colored hair aside and gave him a small smile.  “It's okay, I'm going to get you out of here.  I'm not going to let you die on me, you got that, Mister?”  
  
    His eyes suddenly widened in fear.  Buffy scrunched her nose trying to puzzle the expression when she felt it.  The Polgara wasn't dead.  Spinning as she rose to meet her opponent again she froze, feeling the long skewer pass through her stomach and exiting out the other side.  
  
    The demon and the Slayer locked eyes and even as she could feel her life slipping from her Buffy snarled in defiance.  Her sword lashed out, a clean powerful horizontal strike that cleaved the demon's head from its body.  As its head fell away, the weight of the creature pulled the rest of its considerable bulk backward as it fell, death now claiming it fully.  With the spine pulled from her body, Buffy found herself incapable of supporting her own weight and collapsed along with the demon, her life's blood spilling out onto the dirty pavement.  
  
    'Oh god, I'm going to die again,' passed through Buffy's mind.  She felt herself growing colder, her vision slowly dimming.  'At least it won't be fruit punch mouth I'm left smelling this time.'  
  
    The face of the man she had fought to save floated into her vision, his hair hanging down around his face as his oh so blue eyes searched hers.  It was his turn now to gently brush her hair from her face as he gently lifted her to cradle her in his lap.  
  
    “You fought it, to save a stranger,” he said in a rasping breath.  “I am going to die, but she can save you as you tried to save us and as you can save her now.  Will you let her save the both of you?”  He asked and explained at the same time.  
  
    'What is he talking about, save me, and who is he talking about,' Buffy wondered as he watched her eyes.  As her vision started to fade more, the cold grasp of death crowded her senses and the questions were driven from her thoughts by the fear of death.  'I don't want to die,' she had told Giles only a few months past when she had heard of the prophecy that had led her to the Master.  Buffy found that was still just as true now as it had been then.  She didn't want to die, alone, afraid, and without her friends and mother with her.  
  
    “Will you let her save you?” He asked again.  
  
    This time Buffy nodded, forcing a breathless, “Yes,” from her mouth.  
  
    The man leaned in and Buffy felt his lips press against hers in a tender kiss.  She didn't understand how this was supposed to save her, but she found herself responding.  He was attractive and if she was going to die there were worse men she could kiss while doing so.  
  
    Buffy almost missed the sharp pain that suddenly stabbed through her throat just as the man broke the kiss.  He smiled at her, gently running his thumb across her cheek, before rolling to lay next to her, his body becoming still.  Darkness then descended upon the Slayer, and she knew no more.


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you MeJA for catching an error I made at the end of the chapter. It is now corrected.

Buffy awoke to find herself in a desert. The heat from the sun high above the pristine blue sky beat down upon her shoulders as she picked herself up. She was on a cliff overlooking an expanse of sandy plains. Men in strange armor sat upon horses. Divided into two groups they were riding towards each other, swords and bows drawn as the screams of war cries echoed through the air to find her ears.

“They fought for me,” a soft feminine voice said from behind her.

Turning Buffy found herself facing herself. The clothes her double wore looked like silk in a myriad of greens, each rich and warm. Her hair was held up in twin buns on either side of her doubles head. Despite the oddity of seeing herself dressed like a priestess out of one of Xander's kung-fu flicks she couldn't help but find the look appealing. It spoke of elegance and refinement, yet was also adorable and cute.

Shaking off the urge to start talking fashion with her doppelganger, Buffy scrunched her nose together trying to figure out what was going on and where she was.

“We are in my memories,” her clone said. “Memories of a time so very long ago.”

“And far far away,” Buffy quipped in response. “Okay, so what is this, some sort of Slayer dream?”

Her double gently shook her head as she stepped up to look over the cliff facing the battle that was now raging below them. “No, it is not one of your Slayer dreams. It is more and it is less.” Her double paused for a moment before asking, “Do you remember your last moments before you found yourself here?”

Buffy thought for a moment before nodding hesitantly, “The Polgara demon. I had killed it and was checking on that guy. So, what does that have to do with this?” She asked as she waved a hand to indicate the battle below.

“Think past that, to what happened next,” her double instructed her without answering her question.

Buffy started to huff, frustrated at the lack of answers she was getting from... well from herself. “I found his pulse, his eyes opened and he looked confused. Then, he was scared. He was scared. What was he scared? He was scared of... of...”

Buffy stammered into silence as her eyes widened. She could suddenly feel the spine of the Polgara demon as it pierced her body. The feel of it as it slid out from her after decapitating it and finally killing it. The cool feeling of the dirty floor as she collapsed.

“Oh god, oh god, I'm dead, aren't I? I'm dead and this is like, heaven or something. Or is it hell, please don't let it be hell. I mean, your outfit is cute and stuff, but I so don't want to be without modern fashion,” she said rapidly, beginning to babble at a rate that would shock even Willow.

Her double smiled gently and shook her head, “No, calm yourself, you are not dead. Do you remember what the man said to you as you lay on the floor? How he asked you to save her so she could save you?”

Buffy stilled her rambling words and thought back, finally nodding, “Yeah, it was weird. He was talking about some woman that wasn't there as if she was. Then he kissed me. I mean, I wasn't offended or anything. For a last kiss, it was nice, an eight out of ten easily.”

Her double nodded with a soft giggle, “He was always a tender lover throughout our lives together.”

Realization slowly dawned on Buffy as her doubles comment registered with her brain. “Wait, you're the person he was talking about?”

Her double nodded then bowed to her, “May I introduce myself, I am Kojoro of the Kitsune.”

“Kojoro, that's a pretty name,” she said trying to be polite. “I'm Buffy, Buffy Summers.” Buffy paused looking over Kojoro again with a critical eye. “So if you are the woman that was supposed to save me and I was supposed to save, why do you look like me?”

Buffy noticed that Kojoro started to look nervous. She bit her lip, glancing out across the plains where the battle was still being fought, refusing to meet Buffy's eyes. “I appear to you like this, because it is how I appear now. As long as we are together, our forms are one.”

Buffy tilted her head slightly, her eyes narrowing as she observed Kojoro, “What do you mean, together?”

Kojoro let out a sigh and shook her head sadly, “My people, your people now, are the Kitsune. We require a host to survive. When Samuel, my previous host, kissed you, I transferred from his body to yours.”

Buffy's eyes lit up in sudden understanding, “That pinch, the pain I felt right before I blacked out. That was you! What are you, some sort of demon? You possessed me!” She shouted as she felt her anger starting to rise up

“No, no, Buffy, please, no. I did not possess you nor am I a demon. Please, let me explain,” Kojoro begged, turning to face Buffy fully.

Buffy was near ready to attack her double, her anger at the possibility of being host to a demon raging about inside of her. She only managed to get control of herself when she saw Kojoro's face. Tears were flowing down the other girls cheeks and fear was evident in her eyes. Her near instant rage and rejection had hurt her double immensely and that brought a pause to Buffy's anger. She felt her rage drain from her and instead felt sorry for her outburst. Quickly she reached out taking her double in her arms in a warm embrace.

“Oh god, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I'm... I don't know... this is so strange.”

Kojoro nodded in understanding, pulling back slightly from Buffy's hug, her own hands on her new host's shoulders. “I understand, this is difficult for you,” she said with a kind smile on her lips.

Buffy nodded in return and took a breath and held it for a moment before letting it out. “Okay, so, if you are not possessing me, then what are you doing? You said I was your host, which is a little wigsome and sounds so like possession.”

Kojoro thought for a moment then tentatively nodded, “I suppose it could be like possession, it certainly is with my species' cousins, the Goa'uld. They take hosts by force and completely subsume their minds. I am not a Goa'uld, however. I am Kitsune and while my brothers and sisters may not always be completely honest with a potential host before blending with them, they never force themselves on a host.”

Buffy tilted her head and scrunched her nose in a way that had Kojoro fighting to not giggle at the other girl, “What do you mean they don't force themselves?”

Kojoro bit her lip and tried to answer the question. As she did Buffy realized there was never a question of honesty as she knew what she was being told was the truth, “The Kitsune cannot blend if we are not welcomed into the mind of our host. It was attempted once by one of my brothers and it drove him insane. Within forty-eight hours both he and his host lie dead from the stresses it caused in the both of them. We learned quickly that we must never attempt to do such a thing, even if it meant our own death since we would die from such a thing.”

“But I didn't know what was happening, so how could I give you permission or whatever,” Buffy pointed out to her double.

With a sigh, Kojoro nodded in agreement, “This is true, but it is also true that you gave permission to my previous host, did you not? He told you that we could save each other and asked if you would let me save you. Did you not agree to that?” When Buffy finally nodded reluctantly Kojoro continued her explanation, “That is what I meant by complete honesty. We do not need the host to understand what is going to occur, only to accept us into them willingly. We Kitsune did not earn our reputation as tricksters without merit,” she finished with a quirk of her lips.

Buffy looked down to the ground and Kojoro could feel the indecision wrestling through her host's mind. Reaching out she lifted Buffy's chin so they could look one another in the eye and smiled at her, “Tell me, even now, what do you feel being near me? How do I make you feel?”

Buffy looked nervously at Kojoro, a small smile playing across her lips, “Warm like I know you will be there for me no matter what. I know you will tell me the truth and will always look out for me. I don't know why but I feel... safe... for the first time in a long time. Like you won't reject me no matter what.”

Kojoro nodded and drew Buffy into a hug of her own, “That is because I won't. We are blending. We will be one body and two minds. We will always be there to support each other, do not fear that ever changing.”

The two of them stood like that for a long time, letting the warm desert breeze blow around them as the sun watched over them. When they finally broke apart both looked more relaxed and at ease than they had before and were smiling at one another.

“Okay, so if we're going to be together for life, I think there are some things I am going to need to know,” Buffy told her new partner in life. Kojoro nodded with a smile in agreement causing Buffy's to broaden. “Alright, so tell me more about this outfit of yours. I mean, so totally not the style of a So-Cal girl like me, but I think we can make it work.”

Kojoro laughed brightly as Buffy inspected her robes and shook her head. “Somehow, I think we will get along marvelously.”


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The first sound she heard almost made her wish she were still unconscious. The steady beeping of the heart monitor was all the confirmation that she needed. She was in a hospital. The most inhospitable place in all of existence for Buffy type people as far as she was concerned.

The second sound she recognized was the steady beating of a human heart. She couldn't tell who it was just by the heartbeat, but she could tell that they were relaxed and sitting in place. Just off to her left side near the bed in fact.

Deciding that the longer she lay there in the bed the longer she would have to put up with the torture that is a hospital, Buffy opened her eyes and blinked repeatedly as they adjusted to the light in the room. Almost immediately the person sitting next to her stood; she could tell when the sound of the chair scraping across the floor as it was pushed back reached her ears that it was a deliberate motion, not filled with the rush or excitement she would have expected if it was her Mom, Giles, or any of her friends.

As her eyes cleared and the world came into focus she glanced to her side to see an older man with dark brown hair that was graying slightly at the temples. His grey-blue eyes were taking in all the various bits of medical equipment she was hooked up too before he glanced over to her and gave her a warm open smile.

' _Doctor_ ,' her mind supplied her as she noticed the white lab coat that he wore and the ID badge hanging on a lanyard around his neck that proclaimed him such. She was about to start fumbling with the various electrodes attached to her when his hand gently took her arm by the wrist to stop her.

“Ms. Summers, if you would give me a moment, I'd like to at least shut the machines off before you start ripping things apart. I don't know about you but I do not want to deal with a dozen nurses running in here when the alarm on your heart monitor goes off claiming you have no pulse or heartbeat.”

Buffy numbly nodded as she let her arm fall down by her side as she waited for the doctor to finish shutting things off.

' _ **He is a silver fox if I've ever seen one**_ ,' Buffy heard in her mind, startling her. ' _ **I mean, I get you aren't into his type yet, but give it a few decades and I promise you, you'll see the appeal.**_ '

As the meaning behind the voice's words settled into her mind Buffy had to stop herself from gagging. The thought of this doctor being cute or hot or attractive in any way was just eww-some to the 16-year-old Californian, to say the least. Then the fact that the voice in her head sounded familiar sunk in.

“Oh my God,” she exclaimed in surprise causing the doctor to turn and look at her with a raised eyebrow. She quickly blushed under his scrutiny and gave him a little shrug as if to say 'who me?'.

' _You're really there, aren't you? It wasn't a dream at all,_ ' she silently thought, hoping that the other voice in her head would hear her.

' _ **That is right. Totally not a figment of your imagination, unlike the fact that that man is not a fine specimen of well-aged man flesh,**_ ' the voice of Kojoro answered back in her mind.

' _Eww eww eww, will you stop talking about that, please! He is old enough to be my grandfather,_ ' Buffy silently insisted to Kojoro while the doctor felt her wrist for her pulse. ' _Okay, seriously please stop embarrassing me in front of the doctor before he figures some thing's up, Kojoro_.'

' _ **Okay spoilsport, I'll stop teasing you. Besides, unless he ran an MRI on us while we were still unconscious he'll never know I'm here,**_ ' Kojoro said with what felt like a smug grin to Buffy.

The argument about the doctor's attractiveness was quickly forgotten as he fished out a pen light and started shining it in Buffy's eyes causing her to blink repeatedly. Flicking the light off he leaned back and just watched her for several moments before speaking. “You are a very lucky young lady,” he said, his features schooled into as neutral a look as he could manage. “By all rights, you shouldn't be awake right now, that is if you managed to survive your injuries at all.”

Buffy swallowed a little. The sudden feeling of nervous tension that coiled up around her spine was not something she liked feeling. It was not something she was used to and hoped that she never was. It was a distinctly off-putting sensation. “What do you mean? I'm fine, nothing wrong with me. Perfectly normal and healthy Buffy, that's what I am.”

The doctor slowly nodded his head in agreement. “Yes, perfectly healthy. So perfectly healthy no one would suspect that at some point less than 8 hours but no less than 6 hours ago you suffered a complete abdominal penetration that resulted in severe blood loss, shock, and possibly myocardial infarction.”

“uh...,” Buffy dumbly answered as she started to panic. ' _What is he talking about?_ ' she silently asked Kojoro as she stalled for time.

' _ **He is referring to when you were impaled by the Polagra demon when you attempted to rescue my previous host. Evidently he is concerned that your heart might have stopped at some point due to blood loss and shock to your system,**_ ' Kojoro answered feeling slightly nervous herself.

The doctor kept watching her for what felt like hours but was only a few moments before he continued speaking having decided she wasn't going to offer any information. “Miss Summers, I don't expect you to explain. I... and well every Doctor that works here for any amount of time understands that things in this town are often better left in the dark... so to speak. We also know that we would have fewer patients and more corpses if it were not for you. I know that explicitly since I would be one of those corpses had you not... intervened. For that, you have my deepest gratitude.”

Buffy felt her guard dropping as his words flowed over her. He knew about things that went bump in the night. Even if he didn't want to come right out and say the word vampire, he knew. What was more important to her than that was the fact he had just thanked her for having saved his life at some point. Buffy racked her brain trying to remember seeing him during one of her nightly patrols here in Sunnydale, but nothing was coming to mind.

“That said, I do feel I must ask you one question. If you tell me it is nothing to concern myself with, I'll make sure there is... an accident with your records,” he continued smoothly setting Buffy's nerves back on fire so quickly she almost forgot that just moments before he had been praising her. “While you were unconscious we performed an MRI to ensure there was no damage to your brain...”

' _Oh shit, oh shit... what do we do what do we do what do we do_ ,' suddenly started running through Buffy's mind at near warp speed in an impressive display of mental babbling that would have done Willow proud.

' _ **Calm down, Nikko-chan. Listen to him and calm down,'**_ Kojoro insisted directly into her mind. When Buffy's seemingly endless babble did not begin to slow in the least Kojoro brought herself forth, careful not to give any visual clues as to who was in control of the body.

“... so I felt it would be irresponsible if I did not at least ask if you were aware of its presence,” the doctor had just finished looking noticeably more nervous than he had when he started his impromptu speech and question.

“I appreciate the concern, doctor, but it is not necessary. I'm sure if you check your machine you will find there was an error with it,” Kojoro said in Buffy's voice, giving the doctor a bright and cheery smile.

The doctor started to blush under the cheerful expression and finally fidgeted, adjusted his coat before nodding, “Ah, yes, I'm sure that was it,” he said with another nod. “I'll make sure that any inconsistency with your records are... handled, Miss Summers. And again, on behalf of the entire staff, thank you.”

Questions not answered but handled the doctor returned the smile then made for the door. He paused for a moment and looked back at his patient, never realizing that she was watching him with an open mouth in complete shock inside her own mind as her passenger spoke with him. “Your friends brought you some clean clothes, they are in the bathroom just over there,” he said with a gesture towards the bathroom door. “Once you get yourself dressed you can head out whenever you are ready to.”

“Thank you, doctor, have a nice day,” Kojoro answered cheerily as she slid off the bed and headed for the bathroom. The doctor nodded and stepped out of her room, closing the door behind him.

' _ **Okay, are you going to calm down now, Nikko-chan? The scary doctor is gone and we can leave once you get dressed,**_ ' Kojoro inquired of Buffy as she released control over their now shared body back to Buffy.

' _What the hell was that?!_ ' Buffy virtually shouted inside her mind, only just remembering to not say the same out loud. ' _You, like, totally possessed me! You said this was totally not a possession thing! And then you went and made me Puppet-Buffy!_ '

' _ **Nikko-chan**_ ,' Kojoro started with a sigh, ' _ **I have not possessed you. I merely took control over our body while you were too busy panicking to do anything. You know as well as I do that this is not a possession. It is a partnership. So calm down and get dressed so we can get out of here. I am sure your friends are worried about you.**_ '

' _Oh God_ ,' Buffy silently answered, ' _what are we going to tell them? I mean, fast healing, sure, I'm the Slayer so no big there. But healing a hole in my stomach? Not so much with the normalcy._ '

' _ **Do you trust these friends of yours, Nikko-chan?**_ '

' _What sort of question is that,_ ' Buffy wondered as she pulled on the clean clothes her friends had brought her. ' _Of course, I trust them, or I wouldn't have told them about me being the Slayer._ '

Buffy could feel Kojoro's amusement and disbelief as she replied back, ' _ **Yes, told them. I will let you hold onto that fabrication, Nikko-chan,**_ ' she said, continuing over the mental, ' _Hey!_ ' from Buffy, ' _ **I am serious, though, if you trust them there is no reason not to tell them about my presence, though I would be leery of telling your Watcher.**_ '

' _Leary of Giles? Why he's just Giles. He's all with the research and knowledge and stuff. No reason to be leery of him,_ ' Buffy said back to Kojoro as she slipped on the tennis shoes that had been left for her.

' _ **I have encountered the Watchers before, Nikko-chan, and that encounter did not go well,**_ ' Kojoro said without further verbal explanation.

Buffy was about to ask what she meant when the memories flowed into her mind. It was as if she were remembering something that happened to her and not to someone else which was odd in its own way but it felt completely natural. After a few moments of digesting the memories of Kojoro's encounter with the Council, Buffy shivered.

' _Will I get more memories like that_ ,' Buffy asked, her mental voice tinged with anxiety as she fought to wipe away a few tears that had fallen.

' _ **I am afraid you will, Nikko-chan. In time our memories will be as one, with both of us able to call upon each other's as easily as our own.**_ ' Kojoro could feel the nearly palpable despair at that thought coming from Buffy and quickly moved to ease it. ' _ **Do not fear this, Nikko-chan. Those are only a small part of what life has seen fit to present to me. There are other much more pleasurable m emories to experience as well,**_ ' she said as she drug up one such memory.

Buffy literally walked into the door leading out of the bathroom as her mind was assaulted by the new memory. She could smell, feel, hear, see, and taste every aspect of it as if she had been and still was there when it was created. The deep red blush that crept up her neck and onto her face only served to distract her from the now tender nose and forehead she had.

As the last fleeting images of one of Kojoro's previous girlfriends floated back into the ether that was memory she laughed silently at her host's embarrassment. ' _ **I told you not all were nearly as bad.**_ '

' _Shut up, you... you... voyeur you,_ ' Buffy stammered out mentally as she carefully navigated her way out of her room.

' _ **How can I be considered a voyeur? I was the one that was there when it happened, not you, Nikko-chan.**_ ' she answered with a mental giggle. ' _ **So wouldn't that make you the voyeur?**_ '

Buffy continued on her way out of the hospital, heading for the elevators as the first stop in succeeding in her goal of escaping before someone grew a brain and tried to make her stay. She resolutely refused to answer Kojoro as she made her way through the hallway.

One nurse passed her by, giving her only a mildly concerned look as the blonde teenager they all knew was responsible for saving more than one of them could be heard muttering, “Stupid alien fox snake things thinking they are all with the funny. I'll show her funny, taking over my body and telling me the doctor is cute and stuff... need brain bleach, brain bleach is a must, where can I find the bleach....”

 

'

 


	4. Four

Chapter Four

 

Buffy considered herself lucky that she had ended up with a Doctor that knew more about the real world than most. That had saved her a lot of questions that she didn't want to be answering, particularly from her mother had she been called to pick her up from the hospital. As the elevator opened on the ground floor, though, she started to think that taking longer to get out of the hospital might have been a good thing. It might have allowed enough time to pass for her friends and Watcher to leave to take care of something other than sitting there in plain sight waiting to hear news about her condition.

 

' **_Do not play the fool, Nikko-chan. They are your friends and would have continued waiting until the sky turned to dust and this planet was no more_ ** ,' Kojoro mentally chided her.

 

Sighing, both in defeat and acceptance of the questions that would be asked, Buffy marched ahead towards what she was sure would be her doom. “Um, high guys,” she chirped trying to sound upbeat and cheerful. “Any chance we can go get a shake and a burger? Seriously, major surgery really takes it out of a girl.”

 

All three of her friends started upon hearing her voice. Almost as one their eyes fell on her taking in her upright and mobile condition. Xander noticeably deflated as the stress and worry that had been coursing through him fled his body, glad to see his friend upright and walking. Willow bounced out of her seat, nearly bowling Buffy over as she wrapped her arms around the Slayer as she hugged her, her voice already babbling away at a million miles a minute. Giles simply looked at her. His expression concerned and worried despite her presence before them.

 

“...and the Doctors wouldn't tell us anything even though Giles said he was your medical proxy with you being a minor and all. They tried to insist they couldn't say anything and even weren't going to let us up to your room without your mom being here but we couldn't call her because then she'd want to know how you got hurt. Then there's the fact she isn't in town for the next week because of the buying trip. She is gone for a week, right? But the Doctor who was your surgeon came down and asked if we had brought anything you might want or need and he'd take it up to your room for you. Giles at first didn't want to let the doctor have your clothes, but I was like, Buffy hates the hospital and the gowns and hospital gowns and if she wakes up and doesn't have clothes she's going to like totally freak. So Giles gave the Doctor your clothes. Which I can totally see that you have which is good.”

 

Buffy, afraid that if Willow kept up her babble she would faint from lack of oxygen put one hand on her friend's mouth to stop her from speaking. It only took a moment for the Scooby's hacker to calm down and simply smile at Buffy once she removed her hand.

 

“And many thanks for that explanation, Willow. Yes, I got the clothes and they are much appreciated. Seriously, though, not much with the hospital thingy. Getting out of here and getting food would be much of the good, I'm starved,” Buffy hinted as she motioned towards the door.

 

“Um, yes... quite... though, are you supposed to eat so soon after surgery, Buffy?” Giles inquired, still studying her as if he hadn't expected to see her alive and well.

 

Buffy shrugged, “Don't see why not. The doctor didn't even tell me I had had surgery. Wish he had. If I was going to go under the knife I could have had him make me taller too. Think I can get a refund?,” she quipped.

 

Groaning, Giles shook his head and Xander stood up with his trademark grin. “Don't think they can do that with plastic, Buffster. Besides, you're perfect being Buffy-sized. No upgrades or changes needed,” the founding member of the Scoobies informed her.

 

“Yes, well, if you are done with the jokes, perhaps we should finish the paperwork to have Buffy released,” Giles said as he stood as well.

 

“No need, Giles. The Doc said I was good to go. Just needed to get dressed and could show myself out,” Buffy informed her Watcher. Leaning in closer to him she dropped her voice to a whisper and explained, “He and some others know things, you know? Would rather I not show up in medical records and have questions asked that no one wants asked.”

 

Giles looked mildly shocked at hearing this then recovered his usual composure before nodding. “Yes, that would likely be for the best. Shall we then?”

 

The foursome found their way to Giles aging automobile and from there to a nearby Mexican restaurant that the Scoobies had visited on occasion. Quickly being seated they animatedly talked about everything and everything that had nothing to do with important matters. That meant they talked about homework assignments, Willow being asked by Ms. Calander to act as her T.A. for the computer class, how Xander had managed to most recently crash on his skateboard, and even the really strange and disgusting things that one of their classmates said made for good eating.

 

“Seriously, earthworms on a pizza?” Buffy asked turning pale. “I get that Doug has this weird obsession with what some army guy in the middle of nowhere would eat if he didn't have food, but if you have pizza why would you ever put earthworms on it?”

 

“The more salient question, Buffy, is what pizza joint sells an earthworm pizza,” Xander opinioned.

 

“Salient?” Willow said looking at her best friend since kindergarten strangely.

 

“What? Can't I improve myself? You got me those word-a=day calendars,” Xander said trying to sound slightly offended.

 

“Back in 3rd grade, I did! You told me you tossed them in the back of your closet,” Willow said with a smack to her friend's arm.

 

“I did. And I happened to find them again a few weeks ago looking for one of my shirts,” Xander said proudly. “So the calendar part kinda went to waste, but fear not the words shall never be left want for a home.”

 

“You threw them out, didn't you Xander,” Buffy told him calmly.

 

“Maybe...,” he admitted. When Willow started to glare at him he held up his hands defensively, “Hey, so not my fault. I spilled soda on them. Not a whole lot of use if I couldn't read them!”

 

The conversation went on for a few more minutes like this until their food was set before them by their waitress. Buffy had only gotten mildly surprised looks from their server when she had ordered three of their Grand Canyon Burritos. Her usual order was two of the massive pound and a half concoctions so a third was treated as only mildly unusual by the staff of the restaurant.

 

' **_Makes you stop and think, doesn't it,_ ** ' Kojoro mentioned as Buffy took her first bite.

 

' _ What are you talking about up there? _ ' Buffy asked her pint-sized hi-jacker.

 

' **_The doctors know what is going on in this town and what you are a part of. This restaurant does not question your unusually large appetite. How many others are aware, on some level, the role you play in keeping them safe, Nikko-chan?_ ** '

 

The thought struck Buffy and caused her to nearly drop the next bite of her burrito back onto her plate. Her sudden cessation of eating caused her friends to start watching her more closely as if afraid something was still wrong with her. Giles started to get up from his seat, 'most likely to check on me,' Buffy realized until she waved him back to sit.

 

“Buffy, are you okay?” Willow asked cautiously. “I mean, I know you said the doctor told you it was okay to leave. But, I mean... it wasn't just you and your whole anti-hospital thing, was it?”

 

“Yeah, we want our Buffy whole and hearty, not holey and heartless,” Xander nervously joked.

 

“I'm fine, guys, really. More fine than I've ever been, really,” Buffy said trying to be reassuring. “Just, someone brought something up and it made me realize some possibilities that I wasn't aware of before. Kinda took me by surprise, that's all.”

 

“Mmm... that is good to know it was simply a thought that distracted you and not something else. Like pain, perhaps?” Giles questioned more than said as he eyed Buffy carefully. “If you are in pain, there is no shame in admitting so. It takes time for wounds to heal completely, even for the Slayer,” he finished in a lower voice as to not let it carry past the table and its occupants.

 

“No, no pain, honest Giles. I'm totally fine,” Buffy told him, turning her attention back to her burritos.

 

Frowning, Buffy wanted to silently curse her Watcher. She knew trying to drag out explanations would not get her anywhere as he would be the first to realize there was no way she could have completely healed in the few hours she had been at the hospital. Or at least, a normal non-host type Slayer couldn't. The truth was that if it hadn't been for Kojoro she'd be dead, Slayer healing or not. Being the foremost expert on all things Slayer, Giles would know that and would be counting the miracle that she had lived as a wonderful thing. That she was up and walking so soon, though...

 

' **_He has obviously had darker experiences with magic, Nikko-chan, and it makes him wary of what might have been done to you in order to save your life,_ ** ' Kojoro said silently.

 

' _ What? _ ' Buffy sent back to her companion as she took another bite of her food. ' _ Why are you sure Giles had the dark experience thing? _ '

 

' **_I can show you if you will allow me control for a brief moment_ ** ,' Kojoro answered and asked. At Buffy's mental shrug, Kojoro swam forth in their shared mental space. To Buffy it felt like Kojoro had simply stepped in front of her, yet still didn't impede her senses. ' **_As I do this relax your mind and feel what I do. You can learn to do this as well without the need for me to take control._ ** ' Kojoro instructed her.

 

It took a moment, then Buffy felt as if her world was tilted on end then flipped back right side up once more. It was both sudden and subtle, a sensation that lasted only a brief flicker of a moment before her view of the world was drastically widened. Around her friend, she could see a faint glowing aura. It didn't look like it came from them so much as it was them. Alive and breathing as they did, moving and flowing as they talked and ate. Willow's was a bright yellowish-orange with tinges of pale yellow throughout it. Xander's was a deep solid red. Giles was the most chaotic of them. It had the same core of deep read as Xander's as well as the yellowish-orange of Willow's, but it was muted, somehow less vibrant than the redheads. Over it all, there was a feeling of darkness, shadow, as if it were coated with it somehow, yet it was very old and muted, much like worn paint on a house.

 

' **_You feel it as well, Nikko-chan. The wrongness that still hangs on your Watcher. He has done much to pay penance for whatever left that stain on him, of this I am sure. The red and oranges would be much more muted if he had not. But that stain, you know instinctively what it was caused by, do you not?_ ** '

 

Buffy had to stop herself from physically nodding with her fork in her mouth. As it was her pause, comical though it likely seemed, had drawn the attention of her friends again. ' _ Yeah, I can practically smell it now. Dark magic, like when we had to deal with Amy's mom, only worse somehow. _ ' A shiver found it's way down her spine as she shrugged at her friends and took another bite of her meal. ' _ Can you make it go away now, please. So not good for the appetite. _ '

 

A thought later and her vision cleared of the sensation of awareness and the feeling of 'wrong' coming from Giles fled with it. Buffy could only sigh slightly as she felt the tension she hadn't realized had taken up residence in her body fled leaving her relaxed once again.

 

' _ I suppose he's going to have questions sooner or later _ ,' Buffy said, mentally poking Kojoro.

 

' **_And either we must answer them honestly or hide what you now are,_ ** ' Kojoro answered.

 

' _ This so isn't going to be fun, you know that right _ ?' Buffy asked her.

 

' **_That depends, Nikko-chan. You have so many new entertaining options available when it comes to playing annoy the Watcher_ ** ,' she said back.

 

Buffy could feel the smile that would be crossing Kojoro's face if it weren't the same one as Buffy's. Shrugging her shoulders again, she let the smile slide across their lips as the images that Kojoro supplied got funnier and funnier.

 

When Giles gave her a sharp yet concerned look, she smiled brightly at her Watcher. “Later, I promise. Cross my heart and hope never to die,” she said to him. The image of scaring him by holding one of his books hostage under running water simply made her smile all the brighter.

 


End file.
